Here you have my 10-day journaling challenge, it's a bit long, but I got very excited about it. Let me know if you have any suggestions to improve my writing!

DAY 1 (Wednesday 19 June)

Today I noticed that I had something between my lungs that wouldn’t let me breathe. Anxiety they call it. For me, it was fear translated into my body. Fear of being rejected from a school where I haven’t even applied yet. How crazy our mind is, anticipating something that may not even happen, leaving me with the sensation of drowning. Although it wasn’t easy to manage to get myself up of my chair, I went to take a walk around my neighborhood and do some grocery shopping for my mum. Today I noticed that the fresh air on my face was magical and left me with no more anxiety about my yet unknown future. Today I noticed that I was still alive, in this present moment and that nothing was more important than that.

DAY 2 (Thursday 20 June)

Today I noticed a new shop near my high school. It wasn’t a normal shop, it was a charity shop. And you may think that charity shops are also normal shops, well, not where I live. Last summer, when I went to Edinburgh, I noticed that there were many charity shops, and I was amazed by them. Just the idea of giving a second opportunity to the things that no longer serve us is amazing. Or the idea of using something that has already had an owner, that it has some history behind, which we won’t be able to know. Also, the idea of giving the benefits to people in need is always something good. I believe that if more people trusted these charity shops, we wouldn’t be producing so much waste. We would buy second-hand and we would donate what no longer serves us. I hope that with this new charity shop near my high school, more people will at least think of donating their possessions, or about having a look at the shop. Maybe with this new charity shop near my high school, people will get more conscious about the environmental issues we are having and will try to make some changes. I really believe we can do something. But we have to start today.

DAY 3 (Friday 21 June)

Today I noticed how wonderful life is, as cheesy as it can sound, but that’s how I feel it today. It’s one of those days where you feel like you’re invincible and you can conquer the whole world. And even though I obviously don’t feel like this at every moment in my life, I believe it’s for these moments of complete joy that our life has a meaning. In the end, we don’t remember the mistakes we did back then when we were young, or the test we failed. We remember all the things we have done and how fulfilling those moments were. It sounds a bit cliché but in the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take. I don’t know about you, but when I look back I don’t want to see a life full of missed opportunities, I want to see a life full of mistakes, failures, and struggle. But above all, I want to see a life full of learning. I want to be proud of the person I have become. I want to feel like my life has had a purpose, that it was meaningful. I want to have done the things I always dreamed of doing. So today, when I had to notice something I noticed how wonderful my life is, how proud I am of myself and how happy I am. And I broke in tears, for the first time in my life, I cried because I was so grateful for everything I had done and for everything that is to come. So I don’t know what I will do tomorrow or how I will feel about life. But I surely know that I want to feel like this as much as possible throughout my life, and when I’m feeling down I want to remember that in the end, it’s all worthy. It sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it? So dear me, talk to that special person, have that extra cookie, pursue that dream, follow your intuition, build healthy relationships, enjoy every moment, be scared, get lost, find yourself back, fall in love, break your heart, travel, take that opportunity. Dear me: live.

DAY 4 (Saturday 22 June)

Today I noticed how warming applauses are. I have been a dancer since I was around eight and I have danced in so many different stages, but I never get tired of the feeling of dancing on stage and having that warming applause in the end, after so much work, tears and sweat. Ever since I stood for the first time on a stage I’ve been in love, I’ve felt like this life was worth living and I’ve been my most happy. It’s difficult to explain the feeling of the stage to someone who hasn’t experienced it. In fact, it’s difficult to explain it to anyone, but it’s not necessary to explain anything to the people who have experienced a stage. It is something you just have to feel and enjoy. I don’t remember the moment in my life when I said I wanted to live in a stage, but I know now, that every time I go to see some kind of show, I get that feeling, it truly feels like home. At this point, you may think I’m crazy, because how can a simple stage make you feel so much? But I swear I’m not, I’m just a person who is really excited about life so everything is magical for me. It’s curious how a simple sound as clapping hands is, can make you feel like you’ve done great, that all the effort was worth. Today I noticed how warming applauses are and how good it feels to dance on stage. Today I noticed that when I danced again on stage, I don’t know how many times I’ve done it at this point, but I don’t want it to end.

DAY 5 (Sunday 23 June)

Today I noticed that the more I write for this challenge, the more things I find to write about. Today I noticed that the length of the lines I write every day grows more as we go on with the challenge. Today I noticed that I love to write. Today I noticed that I’m starting to see some improvements in my writing, especially on the depth of the things I write. Today I noticed that we’re already halfway through the challenge and that I would like to go on for more days with it, but I already write every day on my journal, so it would be too much work, maybe I could find another way to do this exercise. Today I noticed that I like to talk about feelings when I write, I prefer that over talking about things everyone can see, maybe that’s the reason why I do it because it’s something different. Today I noticed that I also like to write about my beliefs about life, even though I haven’t written even half of the beliefs I have about this world. Today I noticed that I love to share with people, I want to share the thoughts I have, I want to maybe inspire people with them. Today I noticed that as we are in the middle of the challenge I would challenge myself a bit more by starting every phrase of today with the given prompt. Today I noticed that some of the things I’ve written in here could be good things to talk about in a book. Today I noticed that I want to write a book, well, I haven’t noticed it today, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but I’m not quite sure about what I want to write. Today I noticed that since I like to share with people, it would be a good idea to include my beliefs about life in my book. Today I noticed I’ve only written about my writing today, but I think it’s good to reflect a bit on what I’m doing, before I go on with the challenge, just to know what I like, what I don’t and what I want to keep on doing. Today I noticed I’m enjoying this challenge so much, and I‘m getting to know myself better, which is always a good thing. Today I noticed that I don’t really have much more to notice about my writing, so see you tomorrow!

DAY 6 (Monday 24 June)

Today I noticed that I’m not feeling like writing today. Things seem to not be the way I would want them to be and I’m getting very frustrated. But as I’m writing this, I’m also realizing they are things I can’t control so getting frustrated and upset is inefficient. There’s a quote I like a lot that says: “It is what it is, but it will be what you make of it”. I think at this point, worrying and crying is not going to make much toward the things I want, so probably instead of complaining, I should accept things as they are and try to make as much of them as I can. Also, things could be worse than they are, so I’m lucky for that, and I should be grateful anyway. Even though I wasn’t feeling like writing today, this exercise helps me put in order my thoughts and have a more clear mind. It also helps me to come to conclusions I wouldn’t have reached otherwise. So even though I wasn’t feeling like writing today, I have done it and I’m proud of myself for that.

DAY 7 (Tuesday 25 June)

Today I noticed I spend the whole looking for things to notice and write about. Like today, where I wanted to notice something different, out of my feelings and thoughts, something about someone. That’s why I spent the whole journey on the metro on my way to my dance class, observing people. And even though it was for this exercise, it’s something we should all do from time to time. It’s incredible how different we are from one another. So, today I noticed one girl who was sitting in front of me. I noticed her because she had a necklace that was very similar to the one my mom has always on her neck. It is a little golden sun, which a loved one gave her. My mom has carried it ever since I can remember so I imagine it’s very special for her. It was curious to see someone on the train who had the same necklace, and I started thinking about what could it mean to her. It’s amazing the meaning we give to objects in our lives and how the same object can mean very different things to different persons. Maybe it had the same meaning for her as for my mum. Who knows?

DAY 8 (Wednesday 26 June)

Today I noticed something really good about my ballet teacher. Today I noticed she was very passionate about her job. And for me, that’s a role model. Doing every day what you love and earning money from it. Sounds so good. My ballet teacher is very special, she has a very different teaching method from other teachers I’ve had. You can see in her eyes that she loves dancing, that she has spent her whole life training for it, that she knows what she talks about. Today some of my friends and I gave her a little present for her job. And I think that was very rewarding for her. In the end, she does what she does for us, for the future generations of dancers. And she’s incredible.

DAY 9 (Thursday 27 June)

Today I noticed that new beginnings were about to start for my family. My brother is moving to London and I’m changing schools to pursue my passion. And my mom can do nothing but be proud of us. This new chapter in our lives is going to be amazing, I can feel it, despite the obstacles we’ll have to face. I can tell my brother is a bit scared, but he’s excited to finally move out of home and start his new chapter. I admire him, and I love him and I wish him all the luck in the world in his new adventure.

DAY 10 (Sunday 30 June)

Today I noticed that I haven’t written in two days and that I’ve broken the 10-day challenge. I’m not really that upset because as I mentioned earlier, I write every day in my journal. But I would have liked to complete the challenge on time. It’s true that’s been a very busy week, with lots of rehearsals and classes, so I have a little excuse. Anyway, I loved doing this challenge and I discovered a lot of new things about myself. I also discovered some of the things I would like to have in the book I will write in the future. I’m very happy about this and I will keep this document like a treasure in case I need it at some point in my life. I also noticed during this challenge that even the simplest thoughts can bring up a good paragraph and that writing when you’re overthinking brings you different points of view of your situation, and that’s good. I didn’t really do a revision work with any of my writings from this challenge, as I didn’t feel the need to. But maybe one day I’ll do that. I don’t know, the things I wrote were the things that came to my mind and I tried not to restrict me at any time, if I use any of this then I will do some revision and things may be better, but for now, it’s okay like this. Also, English isn’t my first language so it was a bit complicated sometimes, but in the end, I think I did a pretty good job!

Clara Duboy

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